


Empty Nest

by EndlessEarlGrey



Series: Overwatch Writing Prompts [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Reaper76, The good old days when everyone was happy and together as a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 07:13:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11008530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessEarlGrey/pseuds/EndlessEarlGrey
Summary: Filling in prompt:  A young Pharah’s reactions to her mother being gone all the time?-------My idea of how the Overwatch team are all the protective uncles you need in your life.





	Empty Nest

“If you would call her once in awhile, she wouldn’t have to use the code to get a hold of you!”

“ _Dios mío_ , I really shouldn’t have told her about the emergency code. Can you just imagine being in my shoes? When I hear Margaret say the phone call is code Nevermore, and it turns out to be my mother? My heart jumps– Don’t you fucking laugh _pendajo_!”

Jack leaned his full weight against the wall, doubled over in laughter, as Gabriel fumed above him with crossed arms. Gabriel was winding up his hand to smack down onto the wheezing idiot, when a small movement caught his attention. He lowered his hand and narrowed his eyes.

“Fareeha? What are you doing here?” Gabriel ended up slapping Jack on the arm anyways to get his attention, and gestured in front of him towards the girl who was peeking around the corner. Jack straightened out, wiping the corners of his eyes as his grin calmed down to a gentle smile.

“Hey sweetie, come here.” He beckoned her over, crouching down so he was at her level. The young girl looked at them both for a few seconds, before stepping around the corner. She had a gloomy expression, downturned eyes and hunched posture as she moved sluggishly towards them. Her left hand was clutching the folds of her dress, her right was holding the arm of a doll. Actually as she came closer, Jack could see it was Reinhardt’s action figure; the one where he was in his armour, but his long blonde hair was tied into two pigtails. Jack shot Gabriel a look, which Gabriel frowned at and ended up crouching with Jack on the ground just as she came to them.

“Where’s Reinhardt? I thought he was suppose to be with you today?” Gabriel questioned, glancing behind her to see if the giant man would come running around the corner. The girl shrugged, head still bent so that she’s staring straight down at her shoes.

“Don’t you think we should go find him? He should be looking for you right now,” Jack said, ducking down to get a better look at her face. She shook her head. The men shared another glance between themselves.

“ _Mi chiquita_ , what’s wrong? Were you… looking for something to eat? A sandwich?” Gabriel asked, gently nudging her shoulder. She shook her head again.

“You want some ice cream?” Jack quipped in. Another shake of the head.

“Cookies? Juice?”

“Oh I know, you can go into Jack’s office and play with the big holoscreen. I know he has some games on there.” That earned Gabriel a jab to the ribs. Fareeha shook her head faster at each suggestion until her hair messily covered her face.

“Where’s Amari when you need her?” Gabriel murmured to Jack, as he brushed her hair back. At the mention of Ana, Fareeha’s face crumpled. It started with a tremble of her lips, then they sharply turned down and the floodgates opened. She latched the first person she could reach, which happened to be Gabriel, her small arms wrapping around his neck and she buried her wet face into his chest. These definitely were not alligator tears. Gabriel  looked at Jack with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. The other man sent him a sympathetic smile, but shrugged and nodded his head towards the girl.

“Aw _mi sol_ , shh shh. Don’t cry…” Gabriel wrapped an arm firmly around her waist and his free hand held her head to him. He picked her up, straightening himself while rocking her slowly. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she started crying even louder. Jack placed a hand on her back, rubbing it in circles gently.

She was speaking in between wails, but not in English. One thing they could both pick out was the word ‘mother’, having heard that many times when they were around the mother and daughter. Jack took in where they were and saw that a meeting room was just a few doors down. He led the way, opening the door wide for Gabriel to step through before closing it behind the trio. Gabriel was speaking softly into her hair in Spanish, all the while still rocking in a soothing manner. It took a few minutes for the cries to become hiccups, and when she exhaled deeply, her whole body went pliant– energy drained. Only then did Gabriel slowly lower her down onto the table where she sat, sniffing and rubbing her eyes. This way she was now closer to eye level with them.

“Fareeha… Do you want to talk about it?” Jack said softly, his hand cupping her cheek, while his thumb helped to wipe some tears away. She wrapped her arms around her Reinhardt doll, sniffing periodically while Jack and Gabriel waited patiently.

“Why is she never here?” Her voice was quiet, raspy from the strenuous crying. She peered up from under her bangs with puffy eyes, waiting for their answer.

“You mean your mother?” Jack replied, fully knowing the answer already. She nodded, her lips quivered, but she seemed too tired to start crying again.

“Your mom is doing her job you know? Fighting the bad guys, saving people out there who are in trouble.” Gabriel said, trying to keep his voice soft, willing her to listen.

“But it’s been two weeks! And Mama said she would be back to finish reading ‘Lion, Wardrobe and Witch’ with me,” she wiped her nose with her sleeve.

“Well she shouldn’t take much longer sweetie, she’ll be back soon. I know it’s been longer than she promised, but your mother is being the superhero you know she is.” Jack held her small hand in his, rubbing it slowly to calm her. “The longer she takes, the more people she saves, people like little girls just like you. She’s out there keeping the world safe so you will be too, you know that right?”

The young girl didn’t respond for stretch of time, but eventually she sighed and nodded slowly.

“You know she wants nothing more in the world to come back to you right?” Again, she nodded, pulling on the leg of her doll half- heartedly. The trio stayed in a comfortable silence, the two men waiting for Fareeha to make the first move. Jack almost didn’t hear what she muffled out if it weren’t for his SEP enhancements.

“I wanted Mama to make my finger feel better.”

Jack glanced down at the hand he was holding, nothing seemed wrong there, all five digits intact. He tilted his head to take a look at her other hand and noticed the band-aid wrapped around her pinky finger.

“What happened there?”

“Rein hurt it,” she said.

“Reinhardt?” Gabriel exclaimed. He bent over to look at her hand closer. “How on earth did that man hurt you? Was he throwing you in the air again? I told him dozens of times not to!”

“Nooo,” she said, stretching the last letter out.

“Or did he let you sit on his shoulder again? Do you want me to beat him up for you?”

Fareeha giggled at Gabriel, finally a sweet smile peeked on her face. “Nooo!”

“Are you sure? I’ve been on the receiving end of Gabriel’s punches, I can confirm they do hurt a lot.” Jack grinned, hoping to play along with this train of thought. Gabriel made an exaggerated wind up, swinging his arm in full circles as if gearing to punch Jack. That got a full laugh out of the girl. She shook her head, but this time with a toothy grin on her face.

“No not Reinhardt. Rein did it!” She lifted her doll towards them, holding it by the arm so it dangled like it was going to fall. They both stared at the doll incredulously.

“How did your doll hurt you?”

“He was fighting the dragon with his sword–” Jack bit back a laugh, suddenly remembering Reinhardt’s moaning that the toy company thought a knight with a sword would sell better than a hammer.

“And he was like ‘you will go down Dragon!’ and the sword got me on the pinky when he missed the dragon!” Fareeha said, her face animated as she told her story.

“Oh no! How could he? I thought he was the best knight in all of Eichenwalde!” Gabriel gasped, his mouth open in an overdone manner.

“He is! The dragon was tricky that’s all,” she argued, pulling back the doll to her chest protectively.

Jack chuckled, a sense of relief washing over him when he realised it wasn’t a serious injury. “Well maybe I can help your pinky feel better. What does your mother usually do?”

Fareeha looked at him doubtfully, worrying her lip. That expression was almost identical to her mother’s. “Mama kisses it.” She held her pinky up towards Jack.

‘That doesn’t seem to hard!” He said, holding her hand and lowering his face to it.

“Gently!” She chided, her brows scrunched up.

Jack made an effort to slow down, pursing his lips and made a ridiculous kissing sound as he pecked the bandaged gently. Fareeha giggled, her eyes crinkling with amusement. She turned to Gabriel who was watching the whole interaction with a grin on his face. “You too!” She demanded, holding the pinky up to him as well.

“If _mi princesa_ asks, I will do what she requests!” He bowed, taking off his beanie to show reverence. He kissed the pinky with a loud “MUAH”, which set another bout of giggles from the girl. “How’s it feeling now?”

She bent the pinky a few times before nodding. “Much better, but Mama fixes it faster.”

“Well we all can’t be your amazing mother can we?” Jack patted her head before lowering it to hold onto her shoulder. “ You know Fareeha, if you ever feel sad or lonely, you can always talk to Gabriel and me. We’ll always try our best to help you out okay?”

Fareeha bobbed her head.

“And if we aren’t around, there’s always Reinhardt and Torbjorn. I know Torbjorn can seem grumpy at times, but he doesn’t bite.”

“He gives me cookies!” She chimed, causing Jack to raise an eyebrow.

“Does he now?” He shared a knowing look with Gabriel, who licked his lips as a response. That meant Torbjorn was hiding some of his wife’s cookies somewhere in the workshop. They’ll definitely have to do a recon mission to grab those.  “Well anyways, just remember all of us here are more than happy to spend some time with you okay? You don’t have to be lonely.”

Fareeha hummed in agreement, legs swinging, with a much happier expression on her face.

“Alright come on then. We should find Reinhardt. I bet he’s tearing apart the base looking for you.” Jack helped her down from the table before opening the door. He looked down in surprise when he felt a small hand holding firmly onto his. Fareeha beamed up at him, swinging their hands together.

“Gabi, hold Rein’s hand,” she said, lifting the doll up towards the man behind her. Gabriel took a second, wondering if he wanted to risk being seen acting a little foolish. But one look at those big brown warm eyes, he sighed in defeat and grabbed the tiny action figure’s arm. Fareeha took turns swinging her hands as they walked down the hallway, skipping along between them.

“Why can’t I be the one holding your hand Fareeha?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys have any writing prompts you want filled, let me know here in the comments or on my Tumblr [ Endlessearlgrey](http://endlessearlgrey.tumblr.com), I would be super happy to tackle them!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, comments and kudos are the air to my lungs.


End file.
